On Fri, 03 Oct 1997 14:52:57 -0400, Patrick Leach wrote:

>So, when did it dawn on you that you were given to fits of
>handtool fundamentalism?
>
>  My first spasm was Christmas 1961, a few years before the birth
>of the Rankin/Bass classic, Rudolph the Red-nose Reindeer, when
>Jolly Ol' St. Nick gave me a carpenter's belt full of tools . . . .

A few years before that, when I was 6 or 7, St. Nick gave me a metal 
carpenter's toolbox with a little saw, screwdriver, hammer, etc.  I 
managed to test out the saw and the hammer/screwdriver (aka chisel) on my 
nice new pine desk and dresser set.  After that, the tools were only to 
be used under supervision.

At some point when I was 10-12, my uncle gave me a German carving set 
with interchangeable gouges, chisels, and an X-acto type handle. Not 
having a dad with tool capability (and lacking any wood to carve except 
the one block Uncle Dick sent -- where would a kid get a board in 
Manhattan?), this went mostly unused.

In Boy Scouts, I whittled a neckerchief thingie with a face on it!  
Finally, a galoot project completed!

-- Michael D. Sullivan, Bethesda, Md., USA
-- Email: mds@a..., avogadro@w...